Hi everyone!
So I'm about halfway though my tour now and am in Alice Springs for the next two days. I had romantic ideas this morning of going to a museum and soaking up some culture, but I think I will just laze by te pool (after updating this for all you wonderful people back home). The weather is great so I will go to the museum tommorrow. Promise.
Like I did on the NZ tour i have kept a day-to-day diary of what I have done. Well, I started by doing that but kept forgetting so some bits may be a bit patchy.
Day 1:
I was up at 5:30 this morning to begin my tour to Adelaide. Last night Istayed atthe Cavenagh Hostel - not the nicest lce I've stayed by far. We weren'tprovided with top sheets but it soon became obvious why - it was so hot!
We left at 6:20 a m and went for breakfast in a cafe - chocolate muffin for me! - then headed off to somewhere. We walked down to the waterfall and swam in the plunge pool. The water was cold at first but i soon got used to it s I was using all my energy to stay in one place and not be washed away by the current! We then walked to a 2nd waterfall - the most unconfortable walk i have every done in a wet bikini, towel and flip-flops. We stayed longer in this waterfall, relaxing in the water. Lunch was atthe same cafe as before where theyhad a 100 year old tree (I thought they said 1000 at first)in the garden. We then drove an hour and half (I slept) to the Adelaide River where we took a boat cruise and saw the 'spectacular jumping crocodiles'. They are called saltwater rcs but actualy live in both. They first ne we saw was called Hannibal and he was huge! The guides hing meat over te sides of the boat on a long stick and thecrocs jumped up to try and grab it. The teeth of these animals were enormous and could tak your hea clan off your sholders. Whist on the cruise we also saw Black Kites and Brown Wilstling kites swoopng relly close to the boat to catch food. Unfortunetly my camera jst wasnt ast enough and I didn't get any pictures.
we then drove o a tavern hre we bought icecreams and wet to look at the caged crocs. They aslo had a skull of a 7m croc, the skull itself being about 1. m in length! After strtching our legs for a bit we hopped back on the bus and headed to our capsite. we were staying in permament tens which weremade mainly of nettin. That night we had a proper Aussie BBQ of kangaroo steaks and buffalo sausages - v. v. tasty! We were surrounded by wildlife and the noise was so load and went on all night!
Day 2:
The thing about here is that it is so hot that you hav to drink constanly to styhydrated. but this means that I need the toilet ALL THE TIME. I got three times last night and had to trunch through the cmpsite to the toilet block (check uner the seat for spiders) and then trunch back again.
This orning we got up at 5am and aftera quick breakfast drive across the beautiful area of Kakadu. I slept. Our first stop was at an Aboriginal art site where wesaw some amazing rock paintings and learnt about the people. The Aboriginies are the oldest exitsting culture and hae lived in UAustralia for about 50,000 years.
We then went to the nearby Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which had an interesting museum, befoe heading off for lunh and quick dip in the pool.
Next stop was Gubara where we went for a walk in the sweltering heat (I used my towel as a hat) though the bush. After about 40 minsthegroup split and some went for a onger walk and the rest of us walked down to a small lake. We had to walk through the bush, most of it in barefeet as we had to wade through water. We saw a Golden Orb Spider (look them p on the internet, they're HUGE). The swimming hole was woth it though andjust what your need after walking in that kind of heat. We spt a few enjoyable hours sittng in the water and exploring the rocks. We saw an iguana and I liked an ants bottom (tsted like citrus fruit!), but luckily didn't see ay cros although our guide said there were probably freshwater crocs in there just hidng fr us.
The ast fews days I seem to spend all the time bating away flies - they're really annoying!
That night we stayed at aother campsite and i had to go to the loo in the night again to the sound of howling dingos.
Day 3:
Today we etnf for another walk (v. hot and humid) and wentswimming again. We stopped o look at a huge termite mound thatcan last up to 90 years! We then retured to Darwin and had a free meal out. We then stopped off in the supermarket and bouht a huge cake that we ate in the Hostel.
Day 4:
We got up at 4:30 am and set off on the second leg of the tour. We vistited Katherine Gorge and took a boat cruise along the gorge - it was amazing. We saw a sacrec Aborignal site and had a walk to look at a waterfall and plung pool. We then spent the afternoon driving to Katherine which we visited to stock up on the essentials and headed to our campsite for the night.
Day 5:
Today was a lot fof driving. We started by going to Adelaide River and visited some thermal pools and went for a walk. We saw a wallabe called pixie - so cute! - and a croc - not in the thermal pools! I also saw a massive matrix of spier webs, there must have been about 10 webs all linked together wi an ugly sider sitting in the middle of each!
We thenn drove a lot. We stoppedin Dalye Waters for lunnch. The walls and celing were covered in things left by backpackers from underwear to flip-flops to travelcards, so we left a goon with all our names on it.
We then drove some more.
We got to our campsiteat dusk and instead of sleeping in the tents we slept in swags - canvas bags wih a mattress inside - under the stars. The night sy was so beautiful. There seemed to be more stars than in the nortan hemisphere, but that may just have been because there was less ligt pollution. It was also the first night that I have used a sleeping bag and I slept so well.
Day 6:
This morning we drove to Devils Marbles. It was huge lumps of granit (sp?) erode over time into smooth almost balls. The red colour was achieved by iron oxide and it was the strangest but most fascinating places. We also saw a dingo in the carpark - it was a real showoff. There were so may flies, that if you stood still for 30 seconds your face became covered in flies. They seemed to like my sunglasses , maybe they mistooko me for one of their own. I tried to take a picture of my face to show you the flies bit it didn't work so there is a picture of Fred's back covered in flies.
We then headed off to look t a telegraph station, but ther wasn't much to look at so we didn't stay long. We stopped for lunch at an Aboriginal art gallery where you could buy digaridoes - but I managed to resist.
We then drove to Alice Springs and had lunch out at a place called Annie's Place, where we had a really good meal for $5 - bargain! The rest of te evening was v. fun.
Day 7:
I am so used to have only 6 hours sleep now (getting up at 5am) that I woke at 8am today and couldnt get back to sleep, even though i went to bed at 2am! Havn't done much today so far. I will upload my pictures when I get to Adelaide and finish the tour diary. I am sorry if the typing in this entry is really bad - I am using this really weird keybord which is tres hard to use. Hope everyone is OK and missing you all lots.
lots of love
Helenxx
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